Bardwyn Doggett's Drinking Contest

[Bunny-Rabbit]

Xavier laughed into his fresh tankard of mead, "Storm's End ahhh, that sounds like an interesting story. Don't worry though I won't pry." His eyes rolled up to the ceiling, "but I am imagining it, and it is so very, very naughty. As for a prize, as co-sponsor of this contest I am sure I can find some kind of reward for feats of stamina. If you allow me to that is." He grabs another tankard and offers it to her.

Jast eyes her with an appraising eye, not lewdly but remeasuring her as if surprised by what he sees, "I find brutal, naked honest is a useful tool. I always so the most uncomfortable honest thing I can think of; so when I lie no one thinks I am capable of deceit." He pauses for a moment, sloshing his flask about with out taking a sip, "I made that comment not to insult you, but to set the Redfort boy on edge. Your anger was an unintended consequence. What do you plan? As a the, third?, daughter of Lord Blackwood surely he plans on just marrying you away to gain political connections. With your families jumped up status, he must desperately want to make familial connections with his betters. Do your plans result in you marrying some Tyrell or Lannister so your father can count them as allies?" Jast's eyes bore into her trying to gage her reaction.

[Teirney Lannister]

Alyssa let out a bark of laughter and smacked Xavier on the arm, giggling, “Don’t imagine it! I doubt anything you see is anywhere near the reality, though. It was a memorable night, and I think the entire tavern got to know her a little bit better than they ought to have. You should have seen the poor innkeeper. Horrified, she was.” She grinned maliciously, and Aerie rounded on her and cracked her on the head with the flat of her hand.

“I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink, Alyssa,” she growled menacingly, trying to snatch the cup from the woman’s fingers but failing. “Perhaps I should tell them about your encounter with that bastard Rion at the Reach? We both know you got to know each other very well indeed, don’t you think? Him and his—”Alyssa’s grin wilted and she thrust out her palms as if to defend herself and surrender.

“All right, fine,” she relented plucking up a fresh cup with gusto, “but you can't blackmail me with those sort of things. I’m not ashamed.” She rattled the cup and replied loftily to Xavier, “It depends on what sort of prize you have in mind.”

Aerie gave Alyssa a flat stare at that, and Alyssa laughed guiltily. "I was only teasing," she insisted, her eyes sparkling with humor. Slightly more assured, Aerie zoned back out with great self-satisfaction and returned to her chat with Ser Jast, seeming a bit more embarrassed but determinedly moving forward in denial of what had just transpired. “That is a good strategy,” she allowed, tilting her head to a side and frowning, “though I don’t know if it is my sort to thing. I prefer to be a little more…discreet. I’m afraid my lack of brutal honesty doesn’t allow me to comment any further on that.” She smiled calmly, giving nothing away. “I am glad you did not mean to offend me with that jibe, but I take offense rather easily, unfortunately. Her cryptic smile twitched, however, when he jabbed at a very touchy topic, dropping all together to give way for a sullen frown. “Yes, the third daughter of my dear Father,” she said gloweringly, staring at the ground with tempered anger. “You can only imagine how very important that makes me in anything other than being married off to some pompous lordling to raise the oh-so distinguished Blackwood name. No,” she said softly, looking up at him with acid-green eyes coruscating with vehemence, “I will not be forcibly tied to any man. Marriage is not a part of my agenda and will remain so unless I decide otherwise. Even then, I would rather it not come to that…There are other ways, harsher ways, less desirable ways, but ways nonetheless. You can rest assured my parents will not be able to marry me off to anyone.” She deigned to take a mincing drink from her cup, her face once more drawn into neutral fleacked with ready amusement.

[Bunny-Rabbit]

Xavier laughed so hard, mead sprayed into the air. Gulping, he says, "That story I want to hear. It sounds promising." Licking his lips his eyes twinkle with mischief, "as for the prize. I have some suggestions." He leans forward and whispers his ideas into her ear.

Jast watches the playfulness with an awkward detachment, but becomes more comfortable when Aerie turns back into their conversation. He continues, "So at some point you and your parents' path will probably diverge. Do you have a plan for then? Or just a hope?" Wringing his flask, he continues, "Because I may have a suggestion." Again his hard eyes try to read her every thought.

[Teirney Lannister]

“It’s more than my life is worth to tell you,” Alyssa grinned slyly. “She just might throw a tit on my behalf if I disclose my secrets.” She smirked giddily, and patted his knee in mock consolation, as if soothing an upset child, tilting her head to hear Xavier’s suggestions’. She burst into periodic peals of laughter and slapped his arm playfully, hoping Aerie would not suddenly go berserk at their harmless toying, but Aerie had dissolved into another world.

She observed Ser Jast as if she had never seen him before in proper light and let the hand grasping her drink fall to her side. “What exactly do you have in mind?” she said quietly, her grip slack on her forgotten goblet and her eyes flat with solemnity. There was an eager quiet about her, floating in the air on the precipice of lethal violence.

[Bunny-Rabbit]

Xavier edges a little closer and continues to whisper in Alyssa's ear. He lightly places his hand on her arm, and occasionally he chuckles too at his own suggestions.

Seeing Alyssa distracted; Jast steps closer, and says in a low voice, "I have been looking for a women like you for some time. You are high-born. I think you seek adventure. You claim to be a sword mistress, and have the callouses on your hands to prove it. You can lie, and disseminate, almost skillfully. Plus you are spicy." He pauses for several moments, "I am second in charge of the Goldhands, and I would like you to serve as my agent."

"I do not think coin will you motivate you, even though you will be well paid. So I will instead tell you what your tasks would be. First investigating crimes by Custom agents and smugglers. You would also gather intelligence on the Crown's enemies. Finally occasionally I would need you to speak for me to people I can not be seen speaking to."

"What do you think? Soon I will run the Goldhands and I need some one loyal to me, not Spicer."He spits when he says that name,"You would have to assume a place at court in King's Landing, to keep up appearances; until you are needed else where." Vikter looked for the first time a little nervous.

[Teirney Lannister]

OoC:I was sooo not expecting that :]

Aerie went completely still, her heart beating an unruly tone in her chest until she snapped back into motion. She surveyed him thoughtfully, dark eyes seeking out inconsistencies or weaknesses. “You want me to be your agent, for the Goldhands?” A finger tapped her lips carefully. “The way you were talking, I though you were on the verge of a marriage proposal!” she smiled finally, the grip on her glass returning enough to normalcy so that she could raise it to her mouth. A faint amusement twinkled in the stark green of her eyes, the corners of her mouth on the verge of twitching up into a grin. “I like the sound of it. I accept,” she finished, “but only if Alyssa can remain with me. She is more useful than she appears, despite her occasional lapses into boorish behavior.” She shot the woman a despairing glance. “I think you have done me more of a favor than the other way around, but it would be best you discard that from your mind. And, I will also not be your servant, nor will you treat me like one. Otherwise, do we have a deal?”

[Bunny-Rabbit]

"I don't need any more servants, or wives. I do need an agent, and I think most will underestimate you being female. I have never wavered from telling my masters the truth, even when I knew they didn't want to hear it. I expect the same from you. Who works for you is your concern. I don't know precisely why, but I have had a good feeling about you since the moment your broke my nose off for calling you betrothed." Jast looks around the room, "Unless you have any other questions I am off, I must joust in the morning. After the tourney meet me in King's Landing."

Xavier, having moved very close to Alyssa, brings his head back to look her in the eye, "Is that a grand enough prize?" He chuckles and then kisses her deeply on the mouth.

[Teirney Lannister]

Aerie smiled knowingly, a bare curve of the lips. “So businesslike all of a sudden. I suppose that means I am now fully integrated into your staff? Why, if I knew berating people could have such surprisingly positive results, I would do it much more often in place of trying to act civil. I’m sure your nose will med eventually, but calling me anyone’s betrothed is always a bad idea.” She fiddled with her cup for a moment, surveying Ser Jest from the rim of her goblet before saying, “Then I will see you in King’s Landing. I think my new post also requires me to bid you good luck in the tourney, while I myself feel the need to hope the boy Dondarrion doesn’t unseat you once more. Ah, the conflicts of duty and soul. I think I finally understand it now,” she mocked dramatically, placing an anguished hand to chest with a devious grin. “Alyssa, let’s get going.” She turned to find Alyssa rather busy with Ser Hill, and growled in disgust. “Ser Hill, would you mind pulling yourself off of my lady?” she scowled sardonically, arms crossed across her chest.

Alyssa finally deigned to disengage herself from him, whispering in his ear so Aerie could not hear, “I think it will suffice.” She let her face hover near his teasingly for a moment, brushing her lips against his before finally pulling away with reluctance. “It was fun drinking with you,” she said laughingly before turning heel and floating to an impatient Aerie’s side, the two’s head tilted inwards as they strode away in private conversation. “I know what you were doing, Aerie. You really have no heart,” Alyssa began testily, rubbing the back of her hand.

“I haven’t been dubbed Lady Black heart for nothing, Alyssa. So, how do you think I did?”

“It was a passable performance.”

“Merely passable? I thought I did much better than that. What did you tell Ser Hill? I know you were talking about me.”

“I said everything I was supposed to say, but I don’t like these false pretenses and lies…” she muttered uneasily.

“You didn’t like lying to Xavier you mean. I know you live to tell untruths.”

“No! I—I don’t like playing your handmaid, Aerie. You know I don’t. Can I be the Lady this time and you be my obedient slave?”

“With which House behind your back? You know I appreciate all you do for me, Alyssa. I wouldn’t ask all this of you if I didn’t truly love you for it. You’re the only one I trust, you know that. Remember what ties us together.”

“I have not forgotten. I haven’t betrayed you yet, have I?”

“And I dearly hope it remains that way. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She squeezed Alyssa’s hand affectionately. “Now, while you were busy acting like an idiot with Xavier, I was actually doing things of importance. After I was done playing the innocent fool with Ser Jast, I think he caught me, because—“

“You smiled when you mentioned the lying. It gave you away. And I was just having a bit of fun with him. I get bored with this court life otherwise.”

Aerie ignored Alyssa’s protest about Ser Hill. “I couldn’t help myself. I know I must let everybody think me a whimpering, clueless child, but it’s so difficult to keep a straight face sometimes! Anyways, I suppose it was a good thing he may have been on to me, because he offered me a place as his agent, to work for the Goldhands.”

“And you accepted?” Alyssa asked incredulously? “Doesn’t it seem a bit suspicious that he would give you such a post after you were jabbering on about that loyalty nonsense?”

“So you were listening.”

“I’m always listening.

“Well, I thought about it, and I don’t see any obvious traps; it seemed like an earnest offer.”

“Traps aren’t meant to be obvious.”

“Well it’s not one! I need this, Alyssa. I need it to get away from my familial obligations. I can’t end up married and miserable, bearing thousands of children for some overbearing lord.”

“Perhaps he realized that and…”

“No,” Aerie stated firmly, shaking her head vigorously. “This fits me. This is the sort of life I want to lead and I finally have it. Question it in your head, but let me be at peace with this. Please.” Alyssa nodded slowly and silenced her doubts.